The Hotel was a piece of shit, but 3 people splitting like $60 a night was too good to refuse. Though, we did drive past a few hole in the walls advertising around $40 a night, so next year maybe we'll take yet another step down the quality of life ladder and stay in a place somehow less nice. The Knights Inn in Mt Laurel New Jersey had a smoking room with 2 beds so we snatched that up. There was a hole in the corner of the door, but luckily there was a piece to a broken drawer laying around that we propped up to block the hole. The reservations were for 4 people, they only gave us 2 sets of towels. The front desk doesn't give out extra towels, sheets, pillows, or blankets so we had to make that work. The sheets and comforters had holes in them. One of the lamps didn't work. The shower leaked water all over the floor. The fridge sucked and only worked about half of the time. It was a mess. But good price. I'd stay there again.
I'm glad we planned to stay over in Jersey on Thursday night. It allowed for us to rest up before the fest. Next road trip I think we'll do the same again. Papa Johns provided the grub for the evening. The best pizza chain.
Rock Bottom - Opened the Friday night bill with the mosh. I never heard of this band before and was suprised at how many people were into it. They were some tough guy-esque hardcore. OK band. The opener could have been worse, like the band that opened the one day of ECT fest the other year, Get Railed.
Enabler - I didn't think they'd get a great reception from the mosh hungry early crowd at TIH. I was pretty much right. Their style is like a thrashy punk metal hardcore band. It's hard to tough guy mosh to this band. They were good despite a lot of energy from the crowd.
Incendiary - We went outside for some food during this band. A bunch of bands later in the day commented on how awesome they were. So I'm a little bit disappointed we missed them.
Xibalba - Tough guy metal hardcore from California. They had some pretty heavy jams, but I didn't think anything about them was especially good. They got good reaction from the crowd. I thought the first portion of the set was better than the second. Better songs. They're like Terror but a bit tougher presence on stage, a little slower and heavier.
Rotting Out - This is when the show started to heat up for me. Though, I was very disappointed that they didn't play City of Shame. That song is their best one. The stagedives were on, the mosh was on, and they always bring great energy to the set. It was pretty awesome, but next to the rest of the day they don't make my top 5 for Friday.
Bane - Every single show they play is great. They've never been bad to me. The set wasn't particularly long, but they played all songs that I know. They announced that they're making another album, which is a surprise since last year they were talking about it being hard on them and they didn't know how much longer they'd be able to keep it up. Halfway through the set was a pizza party which involved Joe Hardcore dressed up like a cheesy chef and someone in a viking hat and a dude dressed up like a funny red cat throwing pieces of pizza off the stage. A lot of pizza too, like 15 large pizzas worth. It was awesome, pizza flying everywhere. It made the floor super slick though. So that was no fun. Give Blood, Speechless, Can We Start Again, all the good songs. As always I can't wait to see them again. They were the second best band of the day.
Ramallah - They were not on the original lineup announcement, but I was super happy to see them added. White Trash Rob's bands don't come around Pittsburgh at all pretty much these days. So getting to see this band, which I like a lot more than Blood for Blood, was awesome. Even better was to hear that Ramallah is getting back together and making new music and selling new merch. It was cool seeing Rob's unique demeanor on stage. Then they played So Common So Cheap and it was great. Most of their songs are about political issues and pointing a finger at worldwide attrocities. But their style keeps them from projecting the image of a band that takes theirselves too seriously. Fun set. Third best band of the evening. Tragedy - I didn't think they'd get a good reception at all, but I was surprised. It was definitely the weakest response of the second part of the evening, but still more than I expected. Their set was real tight with some awesome singalongs. I love this band. One thing I liked the most is that neither of the main vocalists ever spoke anything. It was always growled or yelled. It was nice. Great set. I'm glad they incorporated a popular d-beat style hardcore band into the mix. They're the best of their style that is going today. Though, I didn't see that they were selling any merch. They were the fourth best band of the evening.
Panic - They started the set out with Written in Stone, which is my favorite song. I was surprised with how good their set sounded and looked because they don't play much at all. Most of their songs are like 1 minute long, so their set of about 20 minutes probably about maxed them out on songs. Very good set, and enjoyable. Still, not quite enough to make the top 5 of the day.
Blacklisted - I hadn't seen this band in a while. And most of the shows that I did see them were at Roboto or somewhere else in the Pittsburgh area. Pittsburgh doesn't like Blacklisted so much so those shows are always pretty tame. So it was nice to see a building go off for them. They didn't play anything off of Our Youth is Waster or The Beat Goes On, I don't think. If they did it wasn't any of my favorites. But they did play Cannonize and that is the overall best Blacklisted song. Everything was super raw and aggressive with some big time pit action. Fifth best band of the evening.
Modern Life is War - I was very happy that they didn't have the 45 minute build up snoredom period that was before Gorilla Biscuits last year. They went on promptly and ripped the fuck out of the place. It was great. It's been years since I saw them because they haven't been playing. They played all the good songs, By the Sea, First and Ellen, Marshalltown, and many many more. Sing along city. All the stagedives. The set and the day of the fest was everything I hoped it would be.
Top 5:
5. Blacklisted
4. Tragedy
3. Ramallah
2. Bane
1. Modern Life is War
Highs - everything, every band, the food selection
Lows - the price of beer, the steamyness of the weather outside.
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